The girl sent an email to Backpage.com: Some people had taken pictures of her for the website and were making her have sex with men, it said.

“I’m only 15 years old. …. Please help.”

The website forwarded the girl’s plea to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the St. Paul police began to investigate, according to a criminal complaint.

Johnathan Bernard Edwards, 24, and Kauser Mohamoud Yusuf, 21, of St. Paul were charged Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court with first-degree sex trafficking of a minor.

The complaint tells the story this way:

The Nov. 24 ad featured photos of the girl dressed in lingerie. It was titled “Make A Wish I Kno You See My Twinkle’s (sic).” The girl said her name was “Star,” she was 19 and she offered “incalls” for $100. In-calls refer to appointments in which customers come to a location for prostitution.

Investigators found that the ad was sent from a computer at 672 Edmund Ave. in St. Paul, and that the phone number in the ad rolled over to a number assigned to Yusuf.

Fearing for the girl’s safety, officers went to the home Nov. 25. No juveniles were there, but they found Edwards and Yusuf. In the back of the house was a bedroom closed off with a black curtain. It was lit by only a neon light; the bed was an inflatable mattress. Several pairs of thong underwear lay nearby.

When investigators eventually found the 15-year-old girl, she said she met Edwards and Yusuf sometime last summer. They drove her to a Maplewood hotel, where they took cellphone pictures of her in various pieces of lingerie.

She said the two arranged for an estimated seven to 20 men each day to come to the Edmund Avenue house to have sex with her. The customers would pay one of the adults; the girl never got any money, she told police.

The girl was able to accurately describe the bedroom where she slept and where the sex acts took place.

During a Dec. 9 search of the house, investigators found cellphones, a laptop computer, a green spiral notebook with the girl’s name on it and photos of her in a kitchen drawer.

Yusuf admitted to knowing the girl but denied trafficking her for sex. She was released from custody because she was nine months pregnant.

Edwards denied knowing the teen. He was being held at the Ramsey County Jail and made an initial court appearance Thursday.

Yusuf is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 25.

County Attorney John Choi said police should be commended for their quick work on the case.

“The sad fact remains, however, that our children — like this 15-year-old girl — continue to be bought and sold on Backpage.com on a daily basis,” Choi said. “As we have in past trafficking cases, we will do everything we can to hold the defendants accountable for their crimes, while ensuring this 15 year old victim gets the support and services she needs to begin to heal from this horrible ordeal.”

Edwards’ criminal history includes a 2010 conviction for domestic assault by strangulation, a 2011 conviction for marijuana possession and a 2012 conviction for violation of a no-contact order.

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